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Aug 11 Smart Shopping: Tips for Buying the Right Stock Images

We know you have plenty of options when it comes to buying and sourcing the images you’re looking for to enhance your brand’s media presence. We also know it takes time and money to track down quality content, not to mention enough of it to keep up with the market’s growing appetite. At Media Bakery, we've curated over 10 million high-quality royalty-free images to fill in that gap, whatever your media needs may be.
While you browse through our library of pre-existing photos, here’s a few key tips and we’ve learned to keep in mind to find the right fit for your brand

Authenticity

The best way to make your brand stand out is to know what it stands for and stick to it. Your audience is also a huge component of what makes you "you", so planning images accordingly to how they will be viewed and by whom is the key to rendering them most effective. Stay away from the cheesy, brightly lit images that remind you (and your

audience) of the stereotypical stock image. In today's media market, consumers want to feel like companies are reaching out and relating to them, not the other way around. Luckily, Media Bakery's extensive library of images is centered around this very concept - authentic, genuine and powerful visuals are our specialty.

Aesthetic

As an inherently visual component, the right stock photography should draw an immediate emotional reaction from your audience. Some basic principles of design and color are helpful to keep in mind while searching. Maintaining a simple, appealing color palette across your media platforms (blogs, Instagram, website, business cards) is a great way to reinforce your brand and help viewers associate positive emotions with your message. Matching the mood and aesthetic of your color palette in your stock images keeps all your media looking neat and thoughtful- blues and grays should accompany images with cooler lighting, etc.

Keep your color palette in mind when curating images for your brand

Image: Apeloga Stock

Logistics

You know what's best for your brand - placing the right images correctly could help get your message across loud and clear. For something like a homepage header or background image, look for high resolution and low clutter for easy readability if you're adding text on top.

Using people in stock images is very common, and most companies are tempted to use the most "manufactured" looking images that fall flat among viewers. A few simple tips when using stock images with people:

Humans naturally follow eyes on other human faces - adding links or directional cues near the person's eye level is a useful trick for enabling more movement on your site

When including people, clean backgrounds are more effective and increase the appearance of trustworthiness

Layered text on this image would be simple and easy to read, perfect for a clean homepage.

Image: Steve Brookland

Creativity

In such a fast-paced and competitive tech environment, it's crucial to stand out in a creative way. Clients, especially millennial consumers, will appreciate good taste and a good eye for fresh and exciting content. Find image concepts that capture what makes your brand unique - if you pride yourself on a diverse workspace and staff, Media Bakery has tons of images that highlight the energy of the modern workplace. Social media presence is also indispensable, and aligning thoughtful web content with curated social posts can also be a great way to reach out to your busy, tech-saturated audience. As a tip, remember that square posts work best on Facebook and Instagram, while wider images are easiest to view on Twitter.

Stay on top of trends in creative ways with social media - there's a million ways to reach a million people